StudySync Lesson Plan
Night
Objectives
1.
Engage students in the themes and historical context of an excerpt from Elie Wiesel’s
Holocaust memoir, Night, preparing them to discuss and write critical responses to the
text.
2. Practice and reinforce the following Grades 9-10 ELA Common Core Standards for
reading literature, writing, and speaking and listening:

READING: LITERATURE – RL.9-10.1-4, 6-7, 9-10

WRITING – W.9-10.1-2, 4-10

SPEAKING AND LISTENING – SL.9-10.1-6
Time
140 minutes (with an additional 240 minutes of extension possibilities)
Materials
SyncTV Premium Lesson on Elie Wiesel’s Night
Overview
Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel spent two years as a teenager at Auschwitz and Buchenwald
before going on to write 57 books, including his most famous work, Night, an autobiographical
chronicle of his experiences in the Nazi death camps with his father. He is widely considered one
of the most renowned (if not the most renowned) contemporary chroniclers of the Holocaust, and
was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1986 for speaking out against genocide, oppression and
persecution. The excerpts presented here introduce us to Wiesel and his father, and the horrific
Nazi death camp where they are detained along with tens of thousands of others. Close
examination of this excerpt will prepare students to consider Wiesel's ideas and advocacy, to
participate in class- and group-led discussions, and to write thoughtful, informed, and textuallyrooted responses, consistent with the ELA Common Core Standards for Grades 9 and 10.
Background (10 minutes)
1.
Watch the Preview (SL.9-10.1-2). As a group, watch the video preview of the premium
lesson. After viewing, use the following questions to spur a discussion:
a. Why were Jews persecuted under Nazi rule? What was Auschwitz and where was
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Lesson Plan: Night
it located? What is the Holocaust and when did it take place? Discuss the
historical context of the excerpt you’re about to read, defining important terms.
b. As the preview states, “Eliezer struggles to keep his humanity” in the midst of
such dire circumstances. What does this phrase mean? How would such a thing
be possible? What does this struggle say to you about the strength and
perseverance of the human spirit?
c. Why do we still read and tell stories about the Holocaust? What is the value in
studying such a disturbing and appalling chapter in modern history? Is there
anything we can learn from the horror and tragedy of this? If so, what?
Extension (additional 80 minutes)
d. Research (W.9-10.7 and SL.9-10.4-6). For valuable context, have your students do
some research on survivor stories from the Holocaust. Assign each student to find
a different survivor story and prepare a short presentation on his or her respective
figure. The presentations should incorporate video or audio wherever applicable
and should offer a brief biographical summary of their selected figure’s life.
e. Context (SL.9-10.1-3). Before jumping into the excerpt from Night, have your class
read Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, the text of which is available in
the StudySync library. After students read, have them discuss and write about Elie
Wiesel’s life and advocacy work. Why did Wiesel win the Nobel Prize? Why is his
work important? What can you infer about Night based on the text of this speech?
f.
Discover (W.9-10.7 and SL.9-10.2, 4-6). A large collection of photographs of the
Holocaust and the Nazi concentration camps can be found at:
http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/tp/holocaustpictures.htm. Assign each
student to prepare a report on a different concentration camp, incorporating
photos presented on this website. (Warning: many of the photos within are of an
extremely graphic nature.)
Engaging the Text (130 minutes)
2. Read the Text (40 minutes)
a. Read and Annotate (RL.9-10.1-4, 6, 9). Have students read and annotate the
introduction and excerpt. If students are completing as a homework assignment,
ask them to write any questions they have into the annotation tool–these
questions are visible to you after the students submit their writing assignments or
beforehand if you use the “Mimic” function to access the students’ accounts.
b. Discuss (SL.9-10.1, 3). Have students get into small groups or pairs and briefly
discuss the questions and inferences they had while reading. As a class, discuss
the following: Why does Elie pray to God if he no longer believes God exists?
What does this tell you about the spiritual dilemma at the heart of this excerpt?
Extension (additional 20 minutes)
c. Listen and Discuss (SL.9-10.1-2). As a class, listen to the audio reading of the text.
Ask students to share how their understanding of the text changed after listening.
What additional images came to mind? What words did the author use to develop
the setting?
d. Comprehend (RL.9-10.1-4, 6, 9-10). Have students complete the multiple-choice
questions. Collect papers or discuss answers as a class.
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Lesson Plan: Night
3. Watch SyncTV (30 minutes)
a. Watch Either watch the SyncTV discussion as a class or ask students to watch it
on their individual computers.
b. Focus (SL.9-10.1-3 and RL.9-10.1, 4). From 2:25-3:20, the SyncTV students engage
in a close reading of a couple of different passages from the excerpt. Ask your
students to focus on the analyses demonstrated, as the SyncTV students question
the meaning of particular words and offer different opinions on their meanings
and implications.
c. Focus (SL.9-10.1-3 and RL.9-10.1, 4, 9). In two different segments of the episode—
from 3:21-4:10 and from 4:20-5:05—the SyncTV students discuss the context of
the excerpt and the allusions that Wiesel uses in his narrative. Your own students
should pay attention to this discussion, and note how Wiesel’s allusions (to the
Bible, to history, etc.) create deeper meaning in the text.
d. Focus (SL.9-10.1-3 and RL.9-10.1, 4, 9). Finally, from 5:36-7:09, the SyncTV students
engage in a discussion of the symbolic meaning of the “black flame” in Night.
Note how the students infer different meanings from this image—a mythological
allusion, a reference to the flame in the ovens, a visual representation of evil, and
so forth.
e. Discuss (SL.9-10.1-5 and RL.9-10.1-4, 6, 9-10). After watching the model discussion,
have a conversation with the class about the ideas discussed in the SyncTV
episode. What new thoughts do they have after hearing the students' discussion?
Next, divide students into small groups (3-4 students). Move around the room
monitoring groups as students follow the SyncTV episode as a model to discuss
some of the following questions:
i.
What is Wiesel’s attitude about God in this excerpt from Night? How does
he view God’s role in the horrors unfolding? Has God been “murdered” or
has he never existed? Offer your own take on what Wiesel is wrestling
with.
ii. Discuss all the ways in which Wiesel is made a “different person” by this
experience. What changes within? Does he struggle against any of these
changes taking place? If so, which ones, and how so?
iii. The excerpt begins with a list of memories Wiesel claims he will never
forget. But should he try? What does he gain from carrying around all this
pain and suffering he endured? Why tell this story, over and over?
iv. Why do some people pray to a God whom they question and doubt? Why
do people continue to pray even if their prayers go unanswered? Do you
ever pray? Discuss the power of prayer in people’s lives. Do you think
prayer has the power to change anything? If so, what?
v. What is the significance of the title? What does “night” represent in this
text, both literally and symbolically? Why do you think Wiesel chose this as
the title of his memoir?
vi. How does Wiesel view Rabbi Eliahu’s son’s actions? How do you view his
son’s actions? Does Eliahu’s son commit a selfish act, or is he just a human
being acting in the interest of his own survival? Discuss.
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Lesson Plan: Night
Extension (additional 60 minutes)
Further Reading (RL.9-10.6 and W.9-10.2, 4, 7-9). Read and listen to the
accompanying audio recording of Elie Wiesel’s essay, “A God Who Remembers,”
written for a special series on NPR.
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89357808) Use this reading
to expand on the ideas that Wiesel develops in the excerpt from Night. Write a
short essay response explaining what Wiesel means when he says, “Information
must be transformed into knowledge, knowledge into sensitivity, and sensitivity
into commitment.” What is he advocating? How does this inform his life’s purpose?
g. Discuss (W.9-10.7 and SL.9-10.1, 3). How could such an atrocity happen? As a
homework assignment, have students research the social and political climate in
1920s and 1930s Germany that led to National Socialism and the creation of
Hitler’s extermination camps. Discuss, as a class, how these terrible events came
to pass, with each student bringing to the discussion three contributing factors.
Could something like this happen again? What must we do to prevent this?
f.
4. Think (10 minutes)
a. Respond (W.9-10.1, 4). Ask students to read the “Think” questions, watch the
corresponding video clips, and respond to the questions, either in class or for
homework.
5. Write (50 minutes)
a. Discuss (SL.9-10.1). Read the prompt you have chosen for students, and then
solicit questions regarding the prompt or the assignment expectations. Whichever
prompt you have chosen, make sure you are clear about the assignment
expectations and the rubric by which you and the other students will be evaluating
them.
b. Organize (RL.9-10.1, 4 and W.9-10.1-2, 5). Ask students to go back and annotate
the text with the prompt in mind. They should be organizing their thoughts and the
points they’ll address in their writing as they make annotations. If you’ve worked
on outlining or other organizational tools for writing, this is a good place to apply
them.
c. Write (W.9-10.1-2, 4-6, 8-10). Have students go through the writing process of
planning, revising, editing, and publishing their writing responses.
d. Review (W.9-10.4-6). Use the StudySync “Review” feature to have students
complete one to two evaluations of their peers’ work based on your chosen
review rubric. Have the students look at and reflect upon the peer evaluations of
their own writing. What might you do differently in a revision? How might you
strengthen the writing and the ideas?
Extension (additional 80 minutes)
e. Write (W.9-10.1-2, 4-6, 9-10). For homework, have students write an essay using
one of the prompts you did not choose to do in class. Students should publish
their responses online.
f.
Write (W.9-10.2, 4-6, 9-10). At the outset of the excerpt, Elie claims that he will
never forget any of the atrocities he witnessed in his time at the concentration
camps, and we know that Wiesel has committed his life’s work to the memory of
the Holocaust. But later in the excerpt, he is happy that he forgot about Rabbi
Eliahu’s son’s escape. In an essay response of at least 300 words, discuss this
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Lesson Plan: Night
contradiction. Why is he happy that Eliahu continues to search for his son? Why
would he rather Eliahu not know the truth? What does this tell you about Wiesel
and his attitudes about hope and the human spirit?
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Lesson Plan: Night
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
Key Vocabulary
1.
nocturnal (adj.) – Happening or active at night
2. antechamber (n.) – A small room where people wait before entering a larger, connected
room
3. barrack (n.) – A building within a group of buildings where people live dormitory-style
4. crematoria (n.) – (singular: crematorium) Places where the dead bodies of people are
burned, i.e. cremated
5. interspersed (v.) – Placed at different places or intervals within something else
6. lucidity (n.) – The state of clarity or reason
7. floundering (v.) – Moving or acting with difficulty or awkwardness
8. Talmud (n.) – A series of writings delineating Jewish law and tradition
9. inventory (n.) – A list or supply of things that are in a particular place
10. deprivation (n.) – The state of not having something that is needed
Reading Comprehension Questions
Directions: Circle the best possible answer. If you don’t know the meaning of a word, look it up!
1.
Chapter 3 begins with Wiesel listing _____________.
a. horrible memories he can’t forget
b. evidence to disprove the existence of God
c. both a and b
d. neither a nor b
2. Wiesel compares the building where they are assigned to _____________.
a. a dream
b. a part of hell
c. the ghetto
d. all of the above
3. In the barrack, the Nazis were searching for _____________ people.
a. elderly
b. weak
c. young
d. strong
4. Wiesel’s primary concern upon arriving at the concentration camp was _____________.
a. not being separated from his father
b. escaping the camp
c. finding food and shelter
d. all of the above
5. “In one terrifying moment of lucidity, I though of us as damned souls wandering through
the void, souls condemned to wander through space until the end of time, seeking
redemption, seeking oblivion, without any hope of finding either.”
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Lesson Plan: Night
Of the following synonyms for the underlined word, the best would be _____________.
a. obscurity
b. emptiness
c. unconsciousness
d. indifference
6. All of the following images are used symbolically in this excerpt EXCEPT
_____________.
a. night
b. hell
c. fire
d. water
7. “The Kapos were beating us again, but I no longer felt the pain.”
The underlined term above refers to _____________.
a. members of the Nazi SS
b. prisoners in charge of supervising other prisoners
c. both a and b
d. neither a nor b
8. Rabbi Eliahu is described as _____________.
a. weak
b. benevolent
c. respected
d. all of the above
9. Wiesel initially tells Rabbi Eliahu that he hasn’t seen the Rabbi’s son because
_____________.
a. he momentarily forgets
b. he lies about his son’s whereabouts
c. he doesn’t trust Eliahu
d. he wants Eliahu to leave
10. Wiesel prays to a God “in whom [he] no longer believed” that _______________.
a. his father won’t die
b. he will remain devoted to his father
c. their lives will be spared
d. the concentration camp will be liberated
Answer Key
1. A
2. B
3. D
4. A
5. C
6. D
7. B
8. D
9. A
10. B
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Lesson Plan: Night
Further Assignments
1.
After completing this StudySync Premium Lesson, have students read the entirety of
Night. Continue to foster in-class discussion about the themes and issues in Wiesel’s
memoir, having students write essays using the prompts they did not respond to before,
drawing examples from the whole text—or have them keep a reading journal as they
progress through the text. (RL.9-10.1-6, 10 and W.9-10. 1-2, 4-6, 9-10)
2. Having read Night, ask students to complete the entirety of the StudySync Premium
Lesson on Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. How does this illuminate or
bring Wiesel’s purpose into sharper focus? Especially consider the relevance of Wiesel’s
statement: "To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all." Why are silence and
indifference such great sins? Consider the significance of this assertion, especially in light
of Wiesel's own experiences detailed in Night. (RI.9-10.1-6, 10 and W.9-10.1-2, 4-6, 9-10)
3. For further reading on the subject, introduce students to an additional work or works of
Holocaust literature to be read as an extracurricular assignment. Some choices to
consider: Anne Frank's The Diary of Anne Frank; Art Spiegelman's Maus; Primo Levi's
Survival in Auschwitz; Tadeusz Borowski's This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Etty Hilliseum's An Interrupted Life. (RL.9-10.1-6, 10)
4. The horrors of the Holocaust are continually revisited and explored in modern film. To
expand students' breadth of knowledge, have them watch one or more films about this
dark chapter of history. Suggestions: Schindler's List, Life is Beautiful, The Pianist, The
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Europa Europa, Judgment at Nuremberg, Shoah. Warning:
Most of these films contain disturbing imagery and content. (RL.9-10.7, 9)
5. Assign students to research another incident of state-sponsored genocide over the past
two hundred years, comparing it to the Holocaust. Instruct them to pay close attention to
similarities in the circumstances and socio-economic factors that preceded these two
events. Students should write a short essay comparing the two, and well as discussing
their differences. (W.9-10.2, 4, 7, 9)
6. Wiesel uses imagery and figurative language throughout Night to heighten the horror that
he experienced. Introduce English language learners to the devices simile and metaphor,
using this excerpt from Night as illustration. Ask students to go through the text and pick
out every single example of each. Then, have them come up with their own imagery and
language to add to the description. (ELL)
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Lesson Plan: Night